Captains' Discussions
by weyland-yutani
Summary: FF:TSW - The captains of the Deep Eyes and X-COM chat about their teams, and the alien menace they must fight.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer: **FF:TSW is property of the now-defunct Square Studios. X-COM is property of Microprose/Infogrames. I own stock in neither.

**Author's Note: **Something short I whipped up between the main chapters to help hold you guys captive, lol. It reads like a script. 

Deep Eyes and X-COM: Captains' Discussions, Pt. I

July 27, 2067 22:07 hours

Location: in an otherwise empty upstairs debriefing room at the Houston Military Airbase…

   A palm-sized PDA is powered down and the holographic images and text floating above it vanish. A male voice speaks.

   "So, now you know something about my team, and who's who. Only fair to ask about your people, captain."

   The woman's six-foot-plus figure adopts a relaxed pose. "Where to start…with Lanier, I guess. He's my 'official, unofficial' second-in-command, much like your sergeant. Matt's also a damn fine pilot and top mechanic. Atwood almost worships him when it comes to flying."

   "You know, Fleming said that he noticed that."

   "But don't let his quiet Zen crap fool you. If you were to enter a room and find a bucket of ice water perched above the door, Lanier would be the prime suspect." Her eyes are grinning emerald crescents. "Don't ask me how I know this."

   "Oh, really? I'll be on my guard then!"

    "While I'm still on the subject of flying, Atwood is the youngest one on the team. He's not even 21 yet, but the kid already has the earmarks of an ace pilot. He's one of the few that Lanier will trust on his wing in a firefight. Unfortunately, there's one small issue that tends to distract him."

   A brow furrows beneath brown hair. "What's that?"

   "Tyler has a serious crush on Harper."

   "Harp–oh, the one that Aki treated."

   A nod. "Exactamundo! The girl with the go-to-hell eyes. See, it's boy-likes-girl, but girl-treats-boy like poo, because she has attentions for someone else now."

   He cocks his head. _Didn't I hear this somewhere? _"_'_Someone else?' Here?"

   "Yep."

   "A Deep Eye?"

   "You got it."

   "Well…?"

   "It's Corporal Fleming."

   Laughter. "And I thought that Aki was joking!" 

   "She would say that a woman's intuition is never wrong."

   "And therein lies the problem. Neil and Jane are, shall we say, an 'item'. Proudfoot is the no-nonsense type and I doubt if she'll tolerate someone flirting with Neil lightly, if at all."

   "I want to give Harper a serious talking to about it. I don't want it to cause any strife between anyone, or distract her from our objectives. But, know this…beneath all of her brashness and bravado, Eri has a good heart and anyone should be glad to have her watching their back. All of us have combat experience but she's the firearms specialist, and on top of that is lethal with a throwing knife. Personally, if I went one-on-one with her, and she was in a pissy mood, I'd shit my pants." A husky snicker turns into an outright guffaw.

   "And then there's one more person, I think–"

   "Oh, yeah. Hughes. Claims he's a descendant of Howard Hughes, who built the _Spruce Goose. _We always took that with a grain of salt–a handful, really–but if you need a system to hack, or you're faced with funky alien computers, Martin's your man. I've never seen anyone who can damn near just _glance_ at unfamiliar hardware and almost visualize how it works, right there on the spot, and pretty much nail it. His only weakness is his skirt-chasing habits. And off the record, he was eyeing the doctor before he was hastily informed she was not available." She spreads her hands. "Hey, he didn't know, captain."

   A grunt, forced through a lopsided grin. "Hpmh. An honest mistake…no harm, no foul. She would have set the record straight eventually, though. Aki is frank like that."

   "Not to be nosy, but what is her–"

   Another smile, warmer this time. "Ethnicity? Her father was Japanese, her mother Irish. She lost them both in the Phantom attack on the San Francisco barrier city. She was orphaned with no siblings."

   "Christ, I'm so sorry…"

   "That's why she's so close to Dr. Sid. He's pretty much her foster father." He gets up and goes to the small cabinet in the corner, unlocking it and returning to the table with a full bottle and a pair of small empty glasses. He breaks the seal and pours. The woman places a folder on the table and opens it as she accepts her glass of scotch. Inside the file are several photographs; each one contains an image of something that is not human.

   "Now, Captain Edwards, it's time for me to show you what is quite possibly the face of the enemy…"


	2. Captains' Discussions Pt 2

**Disclaimer: **FF:TSW is property of the now-defunct Square Studios. X-COM is property of Microprose/Infogrames. I own stock in neither.

**Author's Note: **Here is the second half of the conversation.

Deep Eyes and X-COM: Captains' Discussions, Pt. II

July 28, 2067, 22:22 hours

   Curious eyes take in a 2-D photograph. "Now he's a scrawny little fellow."

   Laughter. "That's a Sectoid. We nicknamed them 'grays' ever since the First Alien War."

   An eyebrow arches. "'Grays', eh?"

  Another chuckle. "Sorry, captain. But don't let that big head and little pipe-cleaner body fool you. They possess strong telepathic powers and have the ability to mind-control weaker-willed humans. Check out the large eyes…they can see exceptionally well in the dark. Sectoids were really a pain in the ass whenever X-COM was deployed to a night terror site."

   "That is _not_ a good thing…whoa, who's that one in the green bodysuit? He must be twice Ryan's size!"

   "A muton. They're the grunts of the alien forces. Tough bastards, not too bright, takes a lot to kill 'em. I've seen a muton catch six heavy plasma rounds in the chest before going down. That 'bodysuit' is some sort of organic armor that is fused to their skin which, by the way, is purple."

   "Purple. Right." The Deep Eyes captain takes another swallow of his drink. He looks across the table. "Need a refill, captain Broderick?"

   "Please. And Cheyenne will do fine. Now, back to the mugshots. Hmm…oh, here. Check this one out. He's one alien who you pray not to meet."

   "No beauty winner, for certain. Body looks wasted. Almost mummified–how can that neck support such a large head? And look, at the top of his skull…is that his _brain _showing?" The question registers distaste.

   "Yeah, that's the brain. This is our old friend, the Ethereal. He's every X-COM agent's nightmare. Their psionic powers make the Sectoids look like preschoolers. There have been stories of Ethereals mind-controlling soldiers and actually turning them against their teammates. Sucks, huh?"

   "You think they might be on that UFO?"

   Green eyes meet brown ones. "For both of our sakes, I pray not."

   The man tops off his glass with liquid amber and warms it between his palms. He is worried. "Great. And I thought the Phantoms were bad. Now it looks like were facing an enemy that can shoot back, and then some." 

   "But again, that ship out there may be totally automated, Gray. We couldn't detect any life signs during our initial contact. The aliens have been known to deploy ships that were unmanned, usually probes and freighters. But even if there are aliens aboard the thing, hopefully we'll gain the upper hand and wipe them out in a surprise attack, before they decide to assault a city." She leans forward, crosses her arms, resting them on the tabletop. "My other concern is how to prevent widespread panic if a terror attack does happen." 

   "That's a very real worry, Cheyenne. We have already been through hell with the Phantoms–all we need now is the threat of another war, just when we're getting back on our feet. General Tobias has expressed the same concern; I'm positive that he and the council will do all they can in this regard."

   "I pray that they do. Meanwhile–" A glass is raised and the other is tipped against it–"let's make sure that those egg-sucking bugs don't get half the chance. A toast to the Deep Eyes and X-COM. We're going to kick some alien ass."


End file.
